This past presidential election reminded me of the time I ran for class president in the fourth grade. I don’t remember what prompted me to run. Perhaps it was early enough in my school daze (where I hadn’t been pigeon-holed into the loser category) to where I actually thought I could win.

My opponent was the son of our town’s Mayor…smart, likable, and a boy I had had a crush on just the year before. I can remember our class sitting on the carpet in a circle, listening to our campaign speeches. My speech was something like Summer Wheatley’s speech in Napoleon Dynamite. I was promising longer recess, and monthly class trips.

That was when my opponent raised his hand and asked, “And how are you going to make that happen?” And I didn’t have an answer. And I felt really, really stupid, and ashamed for having not thought this through.

Unlike Trump, I have a conscience. I have a moral compass. I have integrity. And I don’t like to flat out lie. I lost that election.

Now, had I been born a narcissist and a bully, like Trump, rather than have my conscience take over, I would have called my opponent a scrawny geek, and spent the remainder of my speech pointing out all of his flaws, made up or real, just to deflect from the fact that it had been pointed out that my platform had no basis in reality.

Sort of like what’s going on now, right? Trump promised a wall. Trump promised that Mexico would pay for the wall. When asked how he was going to make this happen we heard about Hillary’s emails, or Obama’s failed policy, but never an actual answer.

Now we are building a wall and WE, the taxpayers, will pay for it. Trump assures us that the Mexicans will reimburse us, and his idiotic followers swallow this notion hook, line & sinker. Because all those dimwits have to hear is that THE WALL IS BEING BUILT. That’s all they care about. The fact that WE are going to pay for it makes no difference. That’s way down the line. As long as them dirty Mexicans are kept out, who cares who pays?

I am absolutely nauseated at what is happening since Trump took office. It’s as if he is checking off every box that the far, far right wants. Repeal the ACA. Throw out pre-existing conditions. Gag Twitter accounts. Close our borders.

And the scared, narrow-minded people who voted for him? They love it! Yay! Keep them bastards out! Shut them bastards up! Our way is the only way! I was just watching a video of the Governor of Washington chastising Trump for his recent immigration ban, and the comments section is blood-curdling. So much hate. So much denial. And frankly, so much blind stupidity.

And let’s not forget the lies. The lies about his crowd size at the inauguration. The lies about losing the popular vote. The lies about voter fraud.

So here we go. It should be an interesting couple of months – stuff our country, as we know it, has never experienced. Because there is a lunatic at the controls.

Here this now. I will never call him President. I will never refer to his post as a presidency. I just won’t. Because I know as a 4th grader, I showed more integrity than he has now.

Trump is liar and a con man, but I don’t think his followers will ever recognize that. As long as he keeps checking off all those alt right boxes, they will love him.

Excellent post, Tracy. My thoughts, exactly – Trump acts more like the President of an elementary school class than President of a country. it scares the heck out of me that so many people think he’s wonderful.